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Diving god effigy incense burner top
Maya
Early Classic Period
A.D. 400–550
Object Place: Mexico, Guatemala, or Belize
Medium/Technique
Earthenware with black, red, yellow and white slip paint
Dimensions
47 cm (18 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Landon T. Clay
Accession Number1988.1230
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
DescriptionA diving figure is perched atop the lid, his arms folded in front of his face and his legs bent at the knees and arching over his head. A supernatural being emerges from behind his legs. His body is elaborated painted to represent clothing and perhaps body paint or tatoos. Four elliptical and red-painted cartouches on the lid's columnar lower section are each painted with an undeciphered hieroglyph.
ProvenanceBetween about 1974 and 1981, probably purchased in Guatemala by John B. Fulling (b. 1924 – d. 2005), The Art Collectors of November, Inc., Pompano Beach, FL; May 20, 1987, sold by John B. Fulling to Landon T. Clay, Boston; 1988, year-end gift of Landon Clay to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 25, 1989)
NOTE: This is one in a group of Maya artifacts (MFA accession nos. 1988.1169 – 1988.1299) known as the “November Collection” after John Fulling’s company, the Art Collectors of November, Inc. John Fulling sold this group of objects to MFA donor Landon Clay in 1987, and they were given to the Museum the following year.
Evidence suggests that John Fulling built the November Collection from sources in Guatemala between 1974 and 1981. Only a portion of what he acquired during this time came to the MFA in 1988. It is not possible to determine precisely which objects were acquired when or from whom.
NOTE: This is one in a group of Maya artifacts (MFA accession nos. 1988.1169 – 1988.1299) known as the “November Collection” after John Fulling’s company, the Art Collectors of November, Inc. John Fulling sold this group of objects to MFA donor Landon Clay in 1987, and they were given to the Museum the following year.
Evidence suggests that John Fulling built the November Collection from sources in Guatemala between 1974 and 1981. Only a portion of what he acquired during this time came to the MFA in 1988. It is not possible to determine precisely which objects were acquired when or from whom.